Cablevision and Verizon are locked into a high speed war in New York that many of us hope to see in our back yards real soon.
Cablevision has picked up more than 2 million phone customers and is rolling out Wi-Fi. Meanwhile, Verizon has rolled out FiOS to most of Long Island, so home owners get the benefit of more choices for connectivity, more innovative services and lower pricing. Both sides in the battle are reaching for bundling and upgrading technology for faster and more diverse services.
While the battle between cable and phone companies has been brewing for quite a while, Long Island may be the place where the two sides take the gloves off. Cablevision has steadily offered faster broadband options as FiOS deployed into Long Island neighborhoods. And Verizon can't be comfortable with Cablevision picking up over 2 million phone customers in one of its traditionally dominant territories. On the other hand, FiOS has the whole "not shared" network infrastructure story going for it.
Even though the competition is effectively a duopoly (two large parties), both sides are fighting for market share and good numbers to show Wall Street. The result is competitive pricing along with a steady flow of new features to differentiate product offerings.
Perhaps the most important point here is the battle in Long Island is likely to be repeated in other territories where FiOS is challenging the cable company for TV and broadband customers.
For more:
- Examiner covers Optimum vs. FiOS service war in Long Island
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